08-01-21 – Preview – Gloucester City Vs Kidderminster Harriers

The Harriers face a really tough task tomorrow when table toppers Gloucester City are our opponents. With the Reds travelling down to their brand new stadium at the New Meadow Park it’s a game that many of our fans would have liked to be going to as well.

The Tigers have been at the top of the table since almost day one, day two then. Having played sixteen games (thirty one points) to our fourteen games (twenty five points) they are catchable and with our away record being better than at Aggborough then we could put ourselves three points closer to them.

On Tuesday evening we almost came close to losing at Aggborough again when we seemed to be intent on gifting York City the points. An early goal for the visitors was cancelled out just before halftime by Keith Lowe but soon after the break we gifted them the lead again when Cliff Moyo handled the ball in the area. It did look as if it was ball to hand but in the present VAR climate those are deemed intentional. Thankfully Jason Cowley earned us a point late on with a bit of a worldie.

Last time out Gloucester drew at Leamington FC and the week before that they lost at Brackley Town. They have seen an exodus of players in recent weeks following the loss of their previous manager, James Rowe, to Chesterfield. Soon after going there he took the former Harrier Akwasi Asante with him meaning they had lost their main goal scorer. Yesterday Alex Whittle left them too with the rumour going round that, he too, was going to follow Asante. 

Another former Harrier (briefly), Liam Daly, is also rumoured to be leaving the club for Barnet where he can join up with Tim Flowers who was his manager when he was at Solihull Moors. He won’t play against us anyway due to serving a suspension.

The Tigers have a ruck of injured players too with goalkeeper Jake Cole waiting for an elbow operation while Gavin Gunning is out long term with a hernia problem. They also lost two loan players at the end of 2020 when Tahvon Campbell (yes, a former Harrier) and the young Manchester City goalkeeper Louie Moulden both returned to their parent clubs.

As compensation the new manager, Paul Groves, bought in two Coventry City starlets: Jack Burroughs and Jordan Young.

Our injury list is somewhat smaller with only Jim Kellermann definitely out and maybe Jaiden White too seeing as he hasn’t been on the bench lately. Neither has Manchester Utd loanee Max Taylor but we haven’t got a clue if he’s gone back or not.

Amari Morgan-Smith is still out suspended and after the appearance of Jason Cowley changed the result on Tuesday it’s to be hoped that he’ll be getting his first start for us alongside Ethan Freemantle along with a change to the starting formation.

There’s a live stream for the game (cost is £7.99) and you’ll need to have a PayPal account to be able to access it HERE

Teams:

Harriers from:

Simpson, Palmer, Phillips, Richards, Austin, Lowe, Moyo, Penny, Arthur, Maxwell, Taylor, Montrose, Tolley, Prosser, Kellermann, Martin, Freemantle, Hemmings, White, Cowley, Sterling-James.

Gloucester City from:

Maher, Lovett, James, Morgan, Bremner, Harrison, Thomas, Hainault, Robert, King, Dawson, O’Sullivan, Young, Brunt, McClure, Mensah, Burroughs, Marsh-Brown.

Referee: Mr Daniel Locker. Liverpool

Talk about the game here

Links to Gloucester City websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here